Output Options Available for Photocopiers

When automatic document feeders were first incorporated into photocopiers it saved a lot of time compared to manually placing every sheet to be copied onto the platen glass (ADF's were first patented in the mid 1970's and are now incorporated into almost all office photocopiers and multifunctional devices). Since their inclusion, document feeders have allowed many other output options to be included, making the whole process of producing professional looking documents much easier. When sorters are used along side document feeders whole documents can be printed and placed in the correct order automatically, saving a lot of time compared to when this had to be done manually. There are several different types of sorters available and can be set to sort printed documents in different ways, for example printing the pages in a particular order or printing them portrait then landscape then portrait and so on, so that they can be easily separated.

Network Wiring and Telecommunications

Network wiring provides computer network infrastructure, physical installations statewide including Fiber Optic Cable backbones, Risers, Horizontal Copper Cable, Telecommunication Closet Assembly, and Testing. Network wiring is also a source of Cabling System Components.

Telecommunications provides telephone, cellular, blackberry, and beeper service and support for the LSUHSC campus and hospital affiliates.

Administration and Business Office

The administrative office branch of Auxiliary Enterprises provides administrative and IT support to the sections of the Department. We also provide business office support to all sections of the department which includes accounts receivable and payable.

The Auxiliary Enterprises Business Office provides general business support for all Auxiliary operations, and oversees contractual agreements that provide the following support services:

Medical Education Building Cafeteria: A cash and debit card, full service cafeteria and catering located at the 1901 Perdido Street building.

Dental School Lunch Program: A program designed to provide alternatives to vended food at the School of Dentistry.

Campus Vending: A contracted agreement to provide vending machines on the campus.

Beckman Instruments Contracts: Provides contractual agreements for service and support from a major manufacturer of biomedical instrumentation for the LSU System at significantly reduced pricing.

Centralized Accounts Setup: Provides a mechanism for departmental business managers to authorize expenditures from cost centers under their authority in all Auxiliary operations.

Preserving Our History...

The daunting task of transferring the history of Jesuit High School to an electronic data base continues this summer. Here, classmates Michael Bordes ’08 (left) and Greg Tilton ’08 update filesand create new documents for the school’s future use.

Summer Upgrades Continue...

Jesuit’s technology department has kept Robert Wingerter ’08 busy this summerinstalling new computers in classrooms and, as pictured here, in one of the school’s five computer labs.

Accepting a Lower-level Administrative Job

One of our followers asked me to blog about accepting a lower-level admin job. She wrote, "In this economy, more admins are finding themselves in this situation. Can it impact future hiring possibilities like it can in other professions?"
Here is my take on this as an employer. If I were to see a resume for an Executive Assistant or Administrative Assistant and looked at that person's work history and saw career progression other than in one place, I would think to myself any of the following:
"What happened that created this person to accept a position that may be considered a step back in their profession?"
"Something must have happened that caused this person to take a step back." There are so many things can affect our career choices ranging from finances to spouse's career, children, aging parents, the economy and more.
A red flag would go up if I saw one step forward, one step back, one step forward, one step back and so on. Or if I saw one step forward, two steps back. A potential employer is looking at the overall career path. If you had enough on your resume to peak my interest and place you in the competition, I would ask you what happened when I met you in person.
Over the past year, I have read and heard numerous stories of people with degrees taking full time jobs at Pizza Hut! With what has gone on this year, everyone is going to be more understanding in the future when they start staffing up again.

Cape Hatteras Secondary School

The Dare County Board of Education has made three new administrative appointments at Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies for the 2009-2010 school year. At its meeting on May 12, the board learned of the resignation of CHSS Principal Dr. Louis Tonelson, who will retire June 30 after serving in the position since 2006.Superintendent Sue Burgess recommended a new organizational plan for the school’s administrative staff. Jean Taylor will serve as principal for grades nine through 12. Beth Rooks will serve as principal for grades six through eight. The assistant principal for the school will be David Guiley. Jean Taylor has worked at Cape Hatteras High School since 1996, serving for nine years in the Career Development Program and working as a Special Populations Coordinator. For the last four years, she has served as assistant principal at the school. Prior to coming to Dare County, Taylor taught for three years at Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C., and for nine years at Park View Senior High School in South Hill, Va.Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree at Longwood College and her master’s degree at Virginia Tech. She received an educational specialist degree in administration and supervision from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Mass.Beth Rooks is completing her first year as an assistant principal at Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies. From 2006 to 2008, she was assistant principal at Nansemond Parkway Elementary School in Suffolk, Va.Rooks began her teaching career in Wake County Schools immediately after graduation from Meredith College in Raleigh. Subsequently, she moved to Suffolk where she taught for eight years before being promoted to assistant principal. Mrs. Rooks earned her master’s degree in administration and supervision at Old Dominion University.David Guiley has worked for Dare County Schools for 24 years. He was an English teacher and coach at Manteo High School from 1985 to 2005. In 2005-2006, he served as a student accountability specialist for the school district. For the past three years, Guiley has been an administrative intern at Manteo High School and First Flight Middle School. Guiley earned his bachelor’s degree at the College of Wooster and his master’s degree in school administration at East Carolina University. “I was saddened to learn that Dr. Tonelson had decided to retire,” stated Sue Burgess, “but I greatly appreciate his contributions to the school system and community over the past three years.”

Overview

Administrative Core (AC) - The PI serves as the Director of the Administrative Core. The AC is responsible for dissemination of information to investigators (internal and collaborators) and to the scientific community (Web + Structure Notes), integration between Cores, and monitoring scientific progress and production. The AC has the primary responsibility for communication with NIGMS and other PSI-2 centers and for coordination with the other Cores for writing progress reports and for acquiring and disseminating program information to program participants and to the general public.

Administrative Structure

Main responsibilities

You will be a part of the Administrative department and will mainly provide administrative support for various functions including training and recruitment. This is a pro-active position where you will need to be able to demonstrate both resilience and flexibility in a complex and changing environment. You will need a good understanding of HR matters, excellent organizational and communication skills. Successful candidate’s profileCandidates for this position meet the following requirements:
university degree, final year student or close to completion
at least one year experience in a similar position
fluent in English, Ukrainian and Russian languages both written and verbal
adaptable to an intensive work environment
strong team member, with good organizational and administration skills (e.g., keeping accurate records and maintaining up-to-date systems)
attentive to detail and an able to work within strict deadlines is essential
able to learn quickly and apply new knowledge
flexible, able to deal with more than one project simultaneously

Administrative Assistant

High School diploma or Equivalent and 1 year experience required: Aids executive in staff capacity by coordinating office services, such as personnel, budget preparation and control. Conducts housekeeping, records control and special management studies. Observes unit operating practices, such as recordkeeping systems, forms control, office layout, suggestions systems, personnel and budgetary requirements, and performance standards to recommend new systems or revision of established procedures. Coordinates collection and preparation of operating reports, such as time-and-attendance records, terminations, new hires, transfers, budget expenditures and statistical records of performance data. Prepares reports including conclusions and recommendations for solution of administrative problems. Reviews and routes correspondence. May conduct orientation of new employees. May compile, store and retrieve management data, using computer.

Data Collector

This position requires a high school diploma or equivalent and 1 year experience. Gathers raw data from sources provided by company or customer sources. Must be able to speak and read English and have basic interview skills. Uses the phone and face-to-face interview and data gathering techniques. On some occasions must be able to perform basic investigative skills to find sources or develop new sources of potential information. Understands basic interview forms and is able to enter information clearly and legibly.

Data Entry

This position requires a high school diploma or equivalent and 1 year experience. Uses computer and state-of-the-art software programs to enter data into computerized forms from raw data provided by inspectors, data collectors, training developers and other company personnel as required. Must be able to read and write English, have basic computer usage skills and be proficient in the computer programs being used. Must demonstrate proficiency in understanding oral and written instruction .
Reviews input and output documents to ensure accuracy, completeness, and adherence to establishment standards: Reviews documents, such as surveys, to ensure completeness and appropriateness prior to data entry. Reads notes and instructions written on source documents and compares information with printouts to detect errors and ensure completeness and conformity with establishment policies and procedures. Notifies supervisor when document or other input errors are detected, and corrects errors or refers work to other workers for correction. Compares corrected input and output data with source documents, worksheets, and data displayed on screen of computer terminal to verify corrections.

Desktop Publisher

This position requires a high school diploma or equivalent: and 2 years experience. Must be proficient in the use of computer publishing programs and photo manipulating software. Must have strong command of the English language, good organizational skills as they apply to organizing a publication and a basic understanding of the operation of various in-office binding systems. Must be able to perform well and calmly under pressure.

Administrative Professionals Week

Observed annually on the last full week of April, Administrative Professionals Week is an awareness event that acknowledges the contributions of all administrative professionals and their vital roles in business, education and government. Formerly known as Professional Secretaries Week, the commemorative event was created by the International Association of Administrative Professionals in 1952.Join us in celebration of these hard-working individuals who are responsible for the administrative tasks and coordination of information that keeps the world's organizations running smoothly year-round. The IAAP reports that their members prefer observance events that provide them with opportunities for further learning and growth, so think about how your organization can help your administrative staff obtain professional certifications. Additional gift suggestions include business related items like business cards and promotional office supplies.

Administrative Areas

Herman Miller's wide selection of durable furnishings for physician, staff, and administrative offices creates efficient, attractive, and ergonomic environments. Systems furniture, seating, storage, and tables can be combined and configured as needed to support computer work, conferences, training, and general office tasks. The versatile offering also adapts intelligently to change, making the most of your investment.

System Tune-ups.

By selecting Properties in Disk Administrator, you can see a graphical representation of the amount of space left on the system.

Performance Monitor is a tool for measuring and viewing in graphical format the performance of your computer or other computers on a network. You can view the behavior of objects such as the microprocessor, the system's random-access memory (RAM), the hard drive, and various system processes. For each of these objects, information is available about device usage, delays, and other benchmarks that measure how efficiently information is being accessed and processed. Performance Monitor accumulates this data and displays it in graphical format.
For the uninitiated, Performance Monitor can be rather daunting. With a little patience, however, this utility can offer an excellent introduction to the intricacies of system performance.
Establishing benchmarks: When you open Performance Monitor, you're presented with a blank slate on which to chart your system. Go to Edit, Add To Chart. A window appears with pop-up menus that allow you to select which object and counters you want to chart. Selecting System and Registry Quota In Use will guarantee a recurring blip on the scale. Now, choose a few more. As you select your criteria, you can change line width, style, and color. By clicking the Details button, you'll be instructed as to what each specific counter measures. This is where the learning takes place.
You now can save the chart variables for future reference. You also can choose to view system alerts, output log files, and report data. But, unless you are well-versed in system troubleshooting, you'll never get this far. You can, however, learn a lot about your system while viewing its ongoing performance in an attractive, graphical format.
Disk Administrator is a tool for managing disks and viewing them in a graphical format. It is only available to users with system administration clearance. The utility allows you to create and remove partitions on a hard drive, and to create logical drives within a designated partition. It also reads information about drives such as the amount of free space and volume labels and performs drive-checking, basic backups, and drive defragmentation if that option has been installed.
To view disk information: When you open Disk Administrator, you are presented with a basic display indicating any drives present on the system. Click the Volumes button, which is under the View menu. A display appears indicating drive letter, size, free space, and other variables. If you click any drive in either view, and go to Tools, Properties, the graphical display appears. Here, you'll see a pie chart, which represents your drive, showing available space and other information. By clicking the Tools file tab, you can perform backups, drive checking, and defragmentation, if available.
You've now learned about the basic operations available in Windows NT's administrative and system tools. There are other, more complex functions that you may need down the road, but if you've learned enough to need them, you won't need us to explain them. In the meantime, enjoy.

File Integrity & Maintenance Tools.

Backup facilitates the process of using tape drives (Backup does not support diskettes) to create complete or partial backups (copies) of any drives on the system. If data loss occurs, Backup also automates the process of restoring the backed up information. It will only be available to users who have the appropriate level of access.
When Backup is started, Windows NT searches for and locates the tape drive connected to the system, then gives users the options of deciding which files to back up and when. The utility provides a Windows Explorer-type window that shows file locations and details.
As with Explorer, files can be viewed by file name, size, type, or modification date, making selective backups easier. Once files are selected, you can opt to perform file verification to ensure reliable backups and/or restorations. Backups can span multiple tapes, and they can be set to overwrite existing backups or create a new backup set. In addition, backups can be set to occur automatically at preselected intervals.
To initiate Backup: If an entire drive is to be backed up, click the box in front of the drive name. If only portions are to be backed up, double click the drive, and then select or deselect as desired. Click the Backup button in the upper-left corner of the utility's main screen, or select Backup under the Operations menu. The Backup Information dialog box will appear. Here you can view information on the tape that was loaded and the backup being created, and select whether a backup information log will be generated.
Inbox Repair Tool is an automated utility that requires very little user input. It checks the integrity of files in much the same way as off-the-shelf products such as Norton Utilities. As with Backup, it is a restricted activity and will not even appear on the accessories menu if the proper level of access has not been granted.When you open Inbox Repair Tool, you're presented with a window asking you which file you want to scan. The default setting is for personal folder files (file name extension .PST). Alternatively, you can browse and select any file in the system. Inbox Repair Tool will scan it for errors and repair them if you so indicate.

Determining User Privileges.

The User Manager's Account Policy option enhances system security through password control and lockout privileges.

Event Viewer is a cross between a user-related tool and a system-diagnosis utility. It provides a log of various system, security and application events, and can help with troubleshooting. It also allows the system administrator to determine if security breaches have occurred (for instance, if someone was locked out of the system due to excessive entry of an incorrect password.)
When you open Event Viewer, all recent system events will be displayed. By clicking the Log menu, you can view application events (and security events if you are the system administrator). By opening the View menu, you can filter events by various criteria, reverse their list order, search for specific events, or get additional event details, if available.
Remote Access Admin controls how and when remote users can connect to the LAN. It is reserved for the system administrator or someone with similar access. The administrator can assign domainwide permission (a domain is a virtual location, usually the entire network), or can set privileges for only one workstation. Access can be disabled temporarily, or permanent access changes can be made. This function only works if you are connected to a network, and will rarely be used by anyone other than system administrators.

Determining User Privileges.

User Manager is the tool that determines who will have access to what. It allows an authorized user to control the access given to the various individuals who use the system. With User Manager, you can create new users and establish passwords. Once created, users can be assigned to groups, which provide access to or restriction from certain operations, such as performing backups or sharing files. Group definitions may be edited and new workgroups created, and users can be given additional access at any time.
While User Manager is designed primarily for companies using a local-area network (LAN), it can be quite handy in environments where young children or novice users could wreak havoc on the system. To see the power of User Manager without learning all of its functions, try creating a new user with basic access. Then, log on and see where you can go with the various system tools. It's a short journey because you won't get far.
To create a new user: Go to the User menu and select New User. Enter the user name, full name, temporary password, and establish group memberships (other options, such as dial-up privileges, also are available).
To create or edit groups: Open the Policies menu and choose User Rights. Select the group you want to edit, and add or remove tasks as desired.
To establish password and logon restrictions: Go to User, Account, and determine such variables as password uniqueness, frequency of change, and lockout policies (how many times a user can submit an incorrect password before the system refuses to log them on).

Working With . . . Administrative & System Tools

Windows NT Workstation provides several utilities that can enhance system performance and facilitate troubleshooting. Much of the power of this operating system remains hidden until you uncover these utilities, which are found mostly on the Start menu under Programs, Administrative Tools. (Inbox Repair Tool is found under Programs, Accessories, System Tools.) If you are using Windows NT on an expansive network at your office, chances are good that you'll never even use these gems. Your system administrator has probably already locked you out of most of them.
However, if you are a small-business owner or an individual looking to harness the power of Windows NT, read on. You'll find that these tools offer wonderful, yet sometimes complicated, options. Do you need to keep your 5-year-old from accessing his older brother's games? Done. Have you experienced the agony of having an employee ask, "I just formatted the C: drive. Is that OK?" If so, you'll love the flexibility you gain with Windows NT.
Some of the tools are fairly simple and can be used with ease. Others require detailed knowledge of the system or will only be available to system administrators. But, even if you're a lowly user on the bottom rung of a workgroup ladder and don't have access to some of these utilities, you still may enjoy learning what they can do.
The seven basic tools that come with Windows NT can be grouped loosely into three categories. User Manager, Event Viewer, and Remote Access Admin each relate to user activities; Backup and Inbox Repair Tool ensure file integrity and protection; and Performance Monitor and Disk Administrator are involved with system performance. We'll consider each one individually by group, beginning with the user-related tools.

Communications & Marketing Resources

Offers a dozen field-tested lessons from experts who have collectively led thousands of communications trainings. These hardwon insights can help grant makers leapfrog from supporting limited capacity-building efforts to helping shape effective communications programs with higher impact.

administrative

Administrative law integrates several areas of law, which include administrative rules, regulations and procedures for government agencies and bodies; the scope of agency authority, in particular individual privacy; and enforcement powers of agencies. In the United States, access to information about the government is also an integral part of administrative regulations. Government (general), Constitutional Law and Civil Rights are treated separately, as is Privacy Law.

What is Federal Administrative Law?

Federal administrative agencies are given existence and powers by the Congress through enabling legislation. These agencies, in turn, promulgate administrative regulations which, if promulgated within the authority given the agency by its enabling legislation, have the force and effect of law.

Fiction and Tyranny of "Administrative Law"

The conservative columnist Joseph Sobran has a lecture on audio tape called "How Tyranny Came to America." This seems like a shocking and absurd claim. How could anyone believe that "tyranny" exists in America? Sobran must be some kind of extremist nut.

Federal Administrative Law

Administrative law focuses on the exercise of government authority by the executive branch and its agencies. These agencies are created by Congress through “enabling legislation”, and are authorized to promulgate regulations which have the same force as statutory law. Federal agencies have steadily grown in number and importance in the United States, and affect a wide variety of social issues, such as telecommunications, the financial market, and racial discrimination. The term “administrative law” encompasses the procedures under which these agencies operate, as well as external constraints upon them (such as the Administrative Procedure Act, constitutional limitations, and judicial review).

Continuing Task of Administative Law

Columbus discovered America, but it was sitting here a long time before he found it. The same is true of the recent discovery of administrative law. Even though many politicians have only discovered it in the last few years, administrative law has been around a long time.

Administrative Procedure Database Archive - ABA

This site was designed to facilitate the exchange of information about federal and state administrative law among legislators, lawyers, hearing officers, judges, and citizens. While much of the original material is now available from other sources, the ABA Administrative Procedure Database Archive provides access to resources not readily available elsewhere.

Administrative Law Research Tutorial

This tutorial will introduce you to the topic of administrative law research. If you plan to work in a regulatory practice, the skills covered in this training session will be essential to your research.

Administrative Law Outline

Administrative Law: basically procedural. Each agency is responsible for a particular body of substantive law, but certain procedural principles apply to all agencies.

Administrative Law Judge - Wikipedia

An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is an official who presides at an administrative trial-type hearing to resolve a dispute between a government agency and someone affected by a decision of that agency.

Administrative Law Guide - Library of Congress

Administrative law, commonly called regulatory law, is created and enforced by an administrative body, i.e., Department of Labor, the Federal Communications Commission, or the President. Depending on whether the agency is executive, legislative or independent will determine from whom it derives its power to issue regulations and its right to enforce them.

Administrative Law - Wikipedia

Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law.

Administrative Law - Cornell

Administrative law encompasses laws and legal principles governing the administration and regulation of government agencies (both Federal and state). Such agencies are delegated power by Congress (or in the case of a state agency, the state legislature) to act as agents for the executive. Generally, administrative agencies are created to protect a public interest rather than to vindicate private rights.

Using hospital administrative data to evaluate the knowledge-to-action gap in pressure ulcer preventive care

Issues of overuse, underuse and misuse are paramount and lead to avoidable morbidity and mortality. Although evidence-based practice is advocated, the widespread implementation of this kind of practice remains a challenge. This is also the case for evidence-based practice related to the prevention of pressure ulcers, which varies widely in process and outcome in Belgian hospital care. One major obstacle to bridging this knowledge-to-action gap is data availability. We propose using large-scale hospital administrative data combined with the latest evidence-based methods as part of the solution to this problem. Method 
To test our proposal, we applied this approach to pressure ulcer prevention, using an administrative dataset with regard to 6030 patients in 22 Belgian hospitals as a sample of nationally available data. Methods include a systematic review approach, evidence grading, recommendations formulation, algorithm construction, programming of the rule set and application on the database. Results 
We found that Belgian hospitals frequently failed to provide appropriate prevention care. Significant levels of underuse, up to 28.4% in pressure ulcer prevention education and 17.5% in the use of dynamic systems mattresses, were detected. Figures for overuse were mostly not significant. Misuse couldn't be assessed. Conclusions 
These results demonstrate that this approach can indeed be successfully used to bridge the knowledge-to-action gap in medical practice, by implementing an innovative method to assess underuse and overuse in hospital care. The integrative use of administrative data and clinical applications should be replicated in other patient groups, other datasets and other countries.

A New Administration of Knowledge Management

US President Obama faces many challenges as he enters the executive office. His new administration is set to tackle the economy and many in the document management industry are looking to them for signs of increased regulation when it comes to records management and retention.
While such a topic may not seem like it would be a priority for the new president, those immersed in the industry know that good knowledge management is key to solving some of the biggest problems facing the country. Like the economic crisis.
During his campaign, Obama acknowledged that the economic situation, in which we find ourselves knee-deep in bailouts and debt, was caused by a lack of regulation and a disregard for compliance standards. With recent studies showing companies woefully unprepared to archive and manage e-documents, the government is even further behind.
But with the new administration built upon values of transparency and accountability, many in the industry are hopeful that change has come, bringing with it more enforcement and productive initiatives that will help address and prevent future records management calamities, economic and otherwise.

BBA ( Bachelor of Business Administration) program

The BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) program is organized in the way so that students can learn various basic business concepts and principles and after that, they can have experience in hand in the field-based projects as well as can apply both theory and logic to problem solving. This program is a three year academic course that prepares students for practicing their services in the area of finance, accounting, hospitality, retailing, wholesaling and manufacturing industries and so on.

Bachelors of Science in Public Administration Degree Online Program

Our online distance education program offers students the opportunity to study a comprehensive curriculum in the Public Administration degree program and receive their bachelor degree in this specialty. Government on many levels requires highly skilled and educated professionals in public administration. Positions range from federal jobs such as immigration to state and local government jobs. These jobs remain in high demand.Through this program students will learn the skills needed to succeed in this field. All of the courses are focused on the major. This allows students to maximize their learning in the core courses and succeed in their educational and career goals.Students begin with the study of fundamentals of public administration, organizational behavior and management, theories of the public organized and government agencies. Specific courses focus on public policy formation and process, human resource management, financial management and laws. In the higher division courses students enter symposium and project courses where they are able to focus more in one area of Public Administration, and complete a comprehensive project and Public Administration degree research topic course. These specialty courses allow students maximum opportunities to experience the real world. Several career fields this degree will prepare you for are:

What are the Main Administrative Assistant Duties?

Typically, administrative assistant duties include such tasks as answering phones and transferring calls, setting up appointments, answering questions, greeting customers or clients when they arrive at the office, and keeping the appearance of the office clean and tidy. Other administrative assistant duties might include filling out or preparing documents, filing documents, sorting mail, and maintaining records. Administrative assistants are generally always required to be proficient with various word processing and budgeting software, so good computer skills are generally required, along with the ability to type at least 50 words per minute.
The administrative assistant is generally the first person most people will see when they enter the office, so it is important to be friendly, courteous, and professional. Discretion and respect are other important personality traits. An administrative assistant interacts with many people throughout the day when accepting calls, mailing important documents or packages, or assisting clients, so the ability to multi-task is essential. In a larger office setting, a greater number of administrative assistant duties may be required.
Some of these extra tasks might include the supervising of other employees, coordinating and running staff meetings, maintaining an office budget, taking inventory of and ordering office supplies, and making sure any necessary tasks are completed on time. An administrative assistant may also be responsible for hiring and training new office staff, and maintaining a schedule for others in the office. Administrative assistants may also be asked to learn to handle industry specific tasks for employers such as law firms, medical offices, or banking.

How Do I Choose the Best Administrative Assistant Program?

The role of the administrative assistant has evolved dramatically as technology has changed standard office procedures. Administrative assistants now function as office managers, desktop publishers, communication experts, and software superusers. Often, it is also the administrative assistant's duty to train personnel on new office equipment and business software programs as well. This means the most effective administrative assistant programs will offer classes in the latest office technologies and provide students with skills and software knowledge that will be up to date if not ahead of trends in business practices.
Completing an administrative assistant program is not required to get a job, but there are a number of skills required to actually function as an administrative assistant. If one does not have prior office experience, the best route is completion of a two year associate's degree administrative assistant program at a community college, technical college, or business training school. The least expensive programs will likely be at public community colleges, but cost is not always the most important factor. The first step in selection is making a list of all the local schools offering an administrative assistant program. Next, compare all the classes offered. Courses should include the latest versions of the most popular business software. In the United States, these are typically Microsoft® Office programs such as Word, PowerPoint, Access, Excel, and Outlook.Checking online job postings for a candidate's location is an excellent way to build a list of the most common software programs and skills desired. Some other basics are Adobe® Acrobat for creating forms and HTML and CSS for working with websites. Much depends on the industry in which one wishes to work. For example, an administrative assistant position at a marketing company will likely require more creative desktop publishing tasks, and a position in an accounting office will require more financial software knowledge. It's important to choose a focus before selecting an administrative assistant program to ensure courses will be available in the appropriate areas.

What is an Administrative Assistant?

As technology has advanced, the duties of the secretary, often maligned, have changed. The term “administrative assistant” is much closer to the actual duties of one of these employees. The U.S. Department of Labor even has a entry about administrative assistants and described their duties: “Secretaries and administrative assistants are responsible for a variety of administrative and clerical duties necessary to run an organization efficiently. They serve as information and communication managers for an office; plan and schedule meetings and appointments; organize and maintain paper and electronic files; manage projects; conduct research; and disseminate information by using the telephone, mail services, Web sites, and e-mail. They also may handle travel and guest arrangements.” But any administrative assistant worth his or her salt will tell you this barely scratches the surface of everything they do.
The good administrative assistant knows intimately how the office functions. While all offices look the same on the surface, each office is different, often influenced by the industry it serves. Some have a more casual chain of command, some are very formal. The movie “The Devil Wears Prada” is a funny and revealing look at the world of the administrative assistant. How could Miranda Priestley have done all she did without her assistants keeping all the balls in the air?
In the office, the experienced administrative assistant knows, for instance, which faxes are important and which are trash; what snail mail can be safely discarded; which e-mails must be forwarded to the boss, and which he or she can deal with. The administrative assistant also deals with the public in many offices, and is a source of general information. He or she will also probably be responsible, at least in part, in training new office staff. She has to know how to work with a variety of office equipment, and may be experienced enough to do minor repairs.
If the administrative assistant is the boss’s primary assistant, she will probably type and compose part of her supervisor’s correspondence, take many of his calls and keep his appointments up to date. An administrative assistant is served best by a college degree, but a sharp high school graduate who is technologically savvy and has good writing skills could also do the job. He or she will need a thorough knowledge of a word processing program, and should know his way around a computer with confidence.